Japan appears to have stolen a critical lead in a bitterly contested,
three-way battle with China and South Korea to develop the mighty lithium
reserves of Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni salt desert.

At stake is potential access to the world’s largest single source of lithium
and the huge advantages that it would confer as nations jostle to gain early
supremacy in the manufacture of electric cars.

However, the extraction rights that Japan has won are not exclusive and
Bolivia is keen to continue stoking what has been, for the impoverished
South American country, a uniquely lucrative and arbitrary beauty contest